Forever By Your Side
by RuskaSky
Summary: Yato is a god with seemingly limitless powers. But there are some things even gods can't intercept with. [A Yatori one-shot.]


Note: This is based on the Anime only.

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Fall, an ordinary day in its late afternoon. Despite approaching winter, the weather was still relatively warm and comfortable, with a soft, gentle breeze sweeping around the streets. The sun was setting and spread its orange light all across the sky and town; it was reflected in the windows, on the walls and even in the clouds, turning to a golden shimmer, making everything appear to be dipped in honey.

_Such a beautiful scenery_, Yato thought with a melancholic expression, and he would have surely taken his time bathing in it if he had not been busy with something of great importance. With a sigh, the god turned away from the window, back to the bed behind him. He laid his bright blue eyes on the person deeply sleeping.

It was Iki Hiyori, and despite her still resembling her former youthful self, age had been nagging at her, turning her long hair gray and her porcelain skin wrinkly.

Yato clenched his teeth as his eyes brushed over Hiyori's soft features. Even in her sleep, her face would give away the kindness of her heart and Yato could not help but gently caress her cheek.

With a fluttering of her eyelashes, Hiyori awoke. Her eyes seemed dull at first, but as she recognized the god in front of her, her face lit up and she shot him a big smile. "Hey, Yato." Even her voice had changed over the years. It sounded old, and weak.

Hearing her weakness hurt. "Sorry, did I wake you?" Yato asked with a guilty face, but Hiyori softly shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I'd like to stay awake a bit longer before... everything ends."

"Don't say that!" Yato exclaimed while his chest felt as if a sword had stabbed right through it. His eyes were shaking just like his hands, and the god let his head hang down as he whispered, "You can't say that just yet. There's still the possibility that... that you... somehow..."

Ever so slowly, Hiyori reached out with her arm and took Yato's hand. Startled, the god looked up, revealing the tears which had built up in his eyes. "It's okay, Yato," Hiyori smiled at him. "We both knew this was going to happen."

Now, the tears dripped down Yato's cheeks, and he carefully squeezed Hiyori's hand, afraid that any harsh touch might break her translucent skin. "Why does it have to be so soon?" he mumbled, more to himself than to Hiyori. "Why is a human life so limited? It's just not fair..."

"Shh." Weakly, Hiyori raised her hand and brushed away the tears that laid on Yato's face. "There's nothing unfair about it. I am grateful, Yato. Grateful for the opportunity at life I was given. And so grateful for having met you."

As with every time Hiyori would phrase her feelings towards him, Yato felt heat rushing through his body, and he managed to work up a smile despite his pain. "And so am I. I just wish we would have had more time with each other. For one another."

Now, a slight grin appeared on Hiyori's face. "But what's left for us to do, oh great Yatogami, with a shrine right in the center of the city?"

Yato had to giggle, remembering how one day, all of a sudden, Hiyori had taken him to a park not far from the center of the city. She had commanded him to keep his eyes shut and only allowed him to open them after she had carefully adjusted his position. What he had seen as he had opened his eyes was a small, but beautiful shrine with his name on it, and his feelings of joy and thankfulness had never been this intense. Hiyori had built it with her own money, and while it was only a tiny shrine at first, Yato gained many followers over the past decades.

It was one of those things he owed to Hiyori, and a part of him would remain grateful for that forever. But in this moment, he would have traded his shrine, his followers, even his divinity, for another year with her.

Hiyori seemed to see through his smile and once more gently stroke his cheek. "I lived a happy life, Yato," she reassured him, but as if to contradict herself, tears appeared in her pink eyes, and her voice broke down at the end of the sentence.

"Liar," Yato mumbled as he wiped over them to remove the tears, but Hiyori shook her head.

"No, I really lived a happy life. Ever since I met you, everyday was fun. Even though you're wearing that silly bib."

"It's my fluffy wuffy scarf!" Yato replied with a determined expression and raised his hand to said cloth.

"Fluffy wuffy..." Hiyori echoed, and she didn't need to tell Yato that she thought of the first days they met, for his expression told her he thought the same.

"It's been seventy years since then," Yato softly said.

"Seventy wonderful years," Hiyori pointed out smiling. Suddenly, she started coughing violently.

"Hiyori!" Yato jumped up from his seat, unable to do anything but hold her in his arms until the coughing fit disappeared. Her body was shaking and the god wrapped his arms even tighter around her. He noticed how Hiyori tried tensing up her body to suppress her shaking. _She's so strong, fighting despite her weakness_, Yato thought as he patted her back carefully, and a gentle warmth grasped his heart as he pressed her body against his.

"I'm sorry, Yato. It... must be painful watching me now," Hiyori mumbled saddened as she buried her head deeper into his jersey.

"Don't say that," Yato shook his head and pet her hair. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now."

A small sigh escaped Hiyori's lips. "Thank you." Silence hung between the two of them for a while as they appreciated each other's warmth.

"You smell so nice," Hiyori whispered. Very slowly, with a lot of effort, she raised her head to look at him, and her eyes seemed worried and lonely.

_Of course they do_, Yato thought. _For death is nothing but loneliness._

Cold washed over his body and his stomach started to feel sick at the thought of losing her. He knew there were only a few moments left until her body would give up on living, so he did his best to keep smiling at her, feeling her warmth as long as he could, though on the inside he felt like dying himself.

"Yato..." Hiyori finally whispered as she leaned forward. "Would you mind... Just once more..."

She didn't need to say anything else. Swiftly, the god raised her to sit on his lap, and just a second later had their lips joined. Heat went through both of their bodies during this sad farewell kiss, and neither of them wanted to let go, for they knew it was the last time they could hold on to each other like this.

But finally, Hiyori slumped down, her breath ragid. It hurt Yato to know that it was not of arousal, but because her organs couldn't keep up with living any longer. Very carefully, he helped Hiyori to lay back on the hospital bed.

The flickering of life in her eyes was ceasing and her breath became flat. _Her time is running out._

"Yato..." Hiyori mumbled and raised her hand to touch his face again. "Thank you for staying with me."

"It's... I don't..." Yato started, but even a god would not find the right words in the moment of losing his love, so he just worked up another smile to her.

Suddenly, Hiyori rolled over to her end table and scrabbled through it with her hand without looking. "There's one thing I'd like to ask of you..." she slowly said. Her fingers found what they had been searching for, and she formed a weak fist around the object as she lifted it up.

"Anything you want, Hiyori," Yato nodded with sincere eyes.

With a smile, Hiyori raised her fist to Yato and opened it, and the god gasped upon recognizing the thing she held on to.

It was a five yen piece.

"Please... remember me. Forever," Hiyori whispered with a fading voice.

Yato couldn't hold back his tears any more. They fell down his face, on to his wrinkly jersey, but he knew that Hiyori couldn't see them any longer. With trembling fingers, he took the five yen piece, flipped it through the air and caught it again.

"Your wish has been heard loud and clear, my love," he said with a sorrowful voice.

A last, wistful smile formed on Hiyori's lips. Then, with a shaking breath, all tension ceased from her body and the hand that had held on to Yato's face fell down.

"Hiyori..." Yato whispered crying as he tightened his grip around the small coin, feeling completely empty inside. Quivers went down his spine and the tears wouldn't stop coming, blurring his sight so he could barely see the beloved face any more.

He laid over Hiyori, feeling the remaining warmth which already seemed to be disappearing, trying to hold on to it by tightly hugging her lifeless body.

"Don't go," Yato whispered helplessly, finally giving in to the desperation he felt ever since she'd been hospitalized. "Oh, please don't go, Hiyori!" His cry teared the sky, calling for someone, something to hear _his _wish for a change, though he knew that not even a god like him could grant it.

Hiyori was gone, forever. And Yato would spend the eternity keeping her memory, just as she wished.

Still crying, the god lifted his head to look at Hiyori's pale face. He carefully stroke it as his heart broke into two. "I will never stop loving you."

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**Author's Note** (Update 25th September 2015)

This is my most popular and well-received work by far and since I now have more than 50 favorites, I decided it would be the right time to go over it once more; do some clean up, edit the paragraphs and such.

Noragami tucked on my heartstrings when I watched it, and the sorrowful idea of Hiyori and Yato being separated through Hiyori's death wouldn't leave me be until I wrote this story. I know such scenes can be difficult, because they often end up being too emotional, but I hope I managed to do the pairing, the characters and the situation justice.

If you enjoyed it, I would be honored if you left me a review!

Kindly yours,

Ruska


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